In which The Independent jumps the shark

A couple of weeks ago Oliver Wright of The Independent ran a hatchet job, both horrible and nonsensical, about the head of the RCGP, Clare Gerada — the tireless and currently ubiquitous critic of the NHS privatisation Health and Social Care Bill. You may remember Ben Goldacre wrote about Oliver Wright’s awful story. He mentioned how badly the story reflected on Oliver Wright.

I thought about how badly the story reflected on The Independent. I don’t read The Independent very often (does anybody?) but it wasn’t the first time this year that I’d noticed The Independent taking a bizarro line, and in a news piece, supporting the government or libertorian lobbies on issues that seemed contrary to their traditional stance. I briefly wondered whether there had been a proprietorially-engineered shift in editorial position while I wasn’t paying attention these past few years, or whether maybe the staff cuts were taking their toll, and then I forgot about it all because I don’t really care.